substruction

English

Etymology

From Latin substructio, from substruere, substructum (“to build beneath”), from sub (“under”) + struere (“to build”).

Noun

substruction (plural substructions)

1. (architecture) underbuilding; the foundation, or any preliminary structure intended to raise the lower floor or basement of a building above the natural level of the ground.
   • 1644 November 18 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 8 November 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

     It is a magnificent strong building, with a substruction very remarkable.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “substruction”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

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Noun

substruction f (plural substructions)

1. substruction
2. underbuilding

Further reading

• “substruction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.